1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to vehicular splash guards and a method of painting the splash guards.
2. Description of Prior Art
As vehicles are driven, a number of objects such as water, rocks, dirt, road tar, and other foreign objects may be propelled onto the exterior of the vehicle which can do costly damage to the components on the undercarriage of the vehicle in addition to damaging the paint along the sides of the vehicle. Furthermore, these damaging objects may project rearwardly, thereby damaging any vehicles to the rear of the driven vehicle and endangering other drivers on the road. Repairs for such damage to a vehicle's paint, windshield, or parts beneath the vehicle may easily run in the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
One preventative method for maintaining the quality of the vehicle is to install splash guards behind each wheel of the vehicle's body and, typically, in the wheel well, rearward of the front, rear, or both sets of tires. Splash guards are well known and commercially available are typified in the prior art such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,709,938 and 6,193,278, and U.S. Patent Publication Serial No. 2013/0161935, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,938, filed Nov. 18, 1985, teaches a splash guard formed from a sufficiently elastic material which permits deformation during installation, but which is sufficiently inelastic to substantially retain its shape once installed on a vehicle. However, this reference fails to teach a cover to facilitate painting, but, instead, teaches a wheel well flange cover when in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,278, filed Apr. 13, 1999, teaches a two-piece splash guard including a mounting component and a contoured member. The contoured member acts as a removable cover for a top portion of the mounting component such that when the mounting component and contoured member are secured together, the splash guard provides the appearance of a unitary, custom molded splash guard. The cover does not conceal an entire surface of the mounting component in order to provide fine paint lines.
U.S. Patent Publication Serial No. 2013/0161935, filed Dec. 22, 2011, discloses a splash guard having an inside panel and an outside panel. The outside panel defines a partial cover which cooperates with the inside panel to provide a pocket therebetween. The cover assists in the installation process of the splash guard to a vehicle.
Further, as known to those skilled in the art, a large number of newly manufactured vehicles have splash guards installed at the dealership behind both the front and rear wheels as an original vehicle part or as an OEM part. Typically, these splash guards are molded from a durable thermoplastic polyolefin material or similar durable thermoplastic such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), acrylonitrile (ABS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or the like.
Oftentimes, splash guards are installed as an aftermarket part. Thus, either as an OEM or an aftermarket part, splash guards have become an often used part of the vehicle.
As an OEM or aftermarket part, splash guards must be manufactured in accordance with the automobile company's design specifications. As such, these splash guards must adhere to strict manufacturing specifications. Thus, for aesthetic purposes, such design specifications for splash guards usually require that the non-tire facing side of the splash guard be painted without allowing the paint to bleed onto the opposite or tire side of the splash guard. This provides precisely painted edges or fine line painted edges on the non-tire facing side.
Requiring such strict guidelines causes the manufacturing process of these splash guards to be a very tedious and time consuming process. To accomplish this, each splash guard must be taped or masked at its edges to make sure that no paint bleeds onto the opposite side, similar to using painter's tape when painting a wall to ensure well-defined edges. After painting the splash guard, the tape/mask is then removed to reveal fine paint lines along its edges.
However, heretofore, the art has not addressed the painting of the splash guards to create fine paint lines by removing a cover. A need, therefore, exists to accelerate the painting process while still adhering to OEM specifications.
It is to this to which the present invention is directed.
The above references are identified herein in recognition of a duty of disclosure of related subject matter, which may be relevant under 37 CFR 1.56, and specifically incorporated, herein by reference as regards the conventional approaches and constructions taught therein.